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The Beatles have been so minutely examined that fans won't find any big revelations in "Nowhere Boy," the story of the teenage John Lennon.

But this carefully told, understated movie deepens our empathy for him, makes us see the boy he was - and how he'd become the man we knew.

That's thanks in large part to Aaron Johnson's performance. He doesn't look like John, but the "Kick-Ass" star brings to life his charm, snarkiness, confidence and vulnerability. He's got the swagger and the pain.

And who says you can't find a charge in watching John learn his few first chords, discover Elvis, make the connection between sex and rock, and meet Paul and George? (Paul can belt out "Twenty Flight Rock" and guitar George knows all the chords, so John's savvy enough to invite him on board.)

The music is secondary, though: The story's really a love story with Oedipal undercurrents that run deep: John is torn between the woman who raised him - mousy, stern Aunt Mimi - and the woman who gave him birth - flirty, troubled Julia (Kristin Scott Thomas and Anne-Marie Duff, both perfectly cast).

Without much of the overwrought stuff that mars most biopics, "Nowhere Boy" beautifully details that tension.

Just watch for the emotion that manages to bubble up through that pasty, buttoned-up, stiff-upper-lip, postwar England. And we in the future audience know what they don't - that rock 'n' roll is coming along to help liberate them all, for better and for worse.